After Helen badgers Daria about joining an extracurricular activity (again), Jodie convinces her to be on the yearbook photography team. There, she meets Lawndale’s newest victim – Ted DeWitt-Clinton. He had previously been home schooled by his corn-growing, hippie-holdover parents. They instantly hit it off, and Daria convinces Ted it would be a good idea to limit the amount of sports teams and club pictures in order to make room for other student activities, and he suggests the idea to the yearbook committee’s sponsor - none other than Mr. Anthony DeMartino. Mr. D readily agrees, thus angering most of the other students, but particularly Kevin, Brittany, and the Fashion Club.
Quinn sets Daria up with one of her followers to try to convince her to reconsider, but it is only Ms. Barch’s…ahem…charisma that restores the original layout. After finding out about the scam and making them let her out of the car, Daria goes to visit Ted, inadvertently enraging his parents by giving him a Beatles tape and a stick of gum. She becomes unnerved and breaks up the friendship, but feels guilty (What?!? She has a conscience?!?) and invites him to Pizza King and the arcade.
A rather interesting scene ensues, in which Ted defends Daria from the guy she was supposed to date, then they all get involved in a virtual reality game set in a medieval castle. Daria has to back out after only a few minutes because it becomes nauseating, and, after waiting for somewhere around an hour for Ted, goes home.
The next day at school, she finds that Ted has become popular and that her yearbook idea has been abandoned.
I watched this one on Real Player, so I can’t tell you what the graphics were like in the VR scene (boy, would I like to know), but other than the scene with Ms. Barch (its only saving grace – ‘twas hilarious), was a fairly boring episode. Daria seemed a bit out of character, and something about Ted just really bugged me. Maybe it was his voice… I think they overdid the emphasis on how sheltered he was supposed to be. His parents seemed too stereotyped, and something about the rest of it just doesn’t sit right with me.
~Robin
